foster@nsc.UUCP (Jerry Foster) (09/19/85)
From Lauren Weinstein's comments on satellite viewing legalities ... > The end result was the concept that you could watch pretty much > whatever unscrambled transmissions you wanted, but if the signals > were offered for sale to the general public at a fair and equitable > price then you must pay for them. In other words, if a satellite > service WERE WILLING to deal with you as an individual, and charged > you an equitable fee in comparison to cable subscribers, you need > to pay the fee since you are receiving benefit from the transmissions. > If the service were unscrambled and refused to deal with you, then > you were free to receive the service. Last night while watching ESPN (on cable) a announcement appeared saying that home satellite reception of ESPN was illegal and stating that they intended to scramble their signal. To make home satellite reception legal, ESPN is offering a satellite veiwing license good until July 1986 or until they scramble their signal, whichever comes first. When they do scramble their signal, those who have signed up get priority options on de-scramblers. The cost of this package is $19.95